HTPC

Home Theatre PCs need to be functional, gorgeous and practical. Something that emits little noise – but delivers great HD quality in a unit that fits your living space. KitGuru’s HTPC advice is invaluable.

Early last year we reviewed the ECS LIVA X, and now there is an updated version – the X2. On the face of it, the LIVA X2 has changed slightly, as it is now white not black, and it has rounded, rather than square, edges. We will also look at how …

The Revo One RL85 is a nifty mini-PC on offer from Acer. While there are several models available – from Celerons up to Core i5 variants – the particular Revo One we received features a Core i5-5200U, 8GB RAM, a 60GB boot SSD and two 2TB hard drives configured in RAID 1. How …

Zotac has introduced its new miniature personal computer designed for gamers. Despite of small form-factor, the Zotac Zbox Magnus EN970 PC can deliver rather high performance in video games thanks to powerful specifications and a unique GeForce GTX 960 graphics adapter with 3GB of memory. The Zotac Zbox Magnus EN970 …

Intel Corp.’s NUC [next unit of computing] small form-factor PCs offer decent performance and are rather small. Unfortunately, such systems come with limited choice of processors and cannot be upgraded. By contrast, mini-ITX systems support all types of CPUs, can be upgraded, but are considerably larger. In a bid to …

The Blu-ray disc association on Wednesday announced that it plans to begin licensing its Ultra HD Blu-ray format on the 24th of August. The set of technologies will allow makers of players, receivers and other electronics as well as designers of various audio/video (AV) processors to create hardware compatible with Ultra …

In a bid to offer the right solutions for different classes of desktop personal computers, Intel Corp. recently presented its vision of desktop platforms to makers of PC components. Apparently, the world’s largest maker of microprocessors sees as many as six distinctive segments of today’s desktop market. Sales of personal …

Intel Corp.’s ultra-small form-factor NUC [next unit of compute] desktops have become pretty popular on the market and many makers of mainboards, PCs and barebones are now trying to offer something similar. Asrock at Computex 2015 introduced its first NUC-like PCs that feature Intel’s new-generation ‘Braswell’ system-on-chip and boast with …

Elitegroup Computer Systems has introduced one of the world’s first desktop personal computers with Intel Corp.’s Core M processor inside. The new system is very tiny and is completely silent, but it has features similar to those supported by full-size desktops. The new Liva Core personal computer is based on …

Samsung Electronics has confirmed plans to release an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc player this week. The new company did not reveal any details, but reaffirmed that leading makers of electronics are on track with devices that will playback 4K video later this year. Yonhap News reports that a representative of …

Apple has been researching televisions for about a decade, but last year it shelved all the plans to release its own TV, a media report claims. Apparently, Apple could not find enough exclusive features to justify release of its own-brand TV-set. Apple typically enters new markets with a disruptive technology …

After Blu-ray disc association this week finalized the Ultra HD Blu-ray specifications, industry watchers believe that the new players and discs will show up on the market by the end of the year. Panasonic expects new UHD BD hardware to cost two or three times higher compared to current players initially, whereas …

The Blu-ray disc association (BDA) this week said it had completed development of the Ultra HD Blu-ray specification and released the new logo. The upcoming technology will enable delivery of video content in up to 3840*2160 resolution using optical discs. The first Ultra HD Blu-ray (UHD BD) movies and players …

Although sales of personal computers in general are declining nowadays, demand for inexpensive mini desktop PCs remains strong. As a result, Intel Corp. intends to strengthen its platforms for such systems, a media report claims. Among other things, the world’s No. 1 microprocessor supplier intends to improve performance of small …

CyberLink, a leading developer of multimedia software, has introduced the industry’s first media player that can take advantage of hardware acceleration capabilities of ultra-high-definition video decoding found in the latest hardware, such as microprocessors and graphics processing units. The CyberLink PowerDVD 15 is the world’s first software player that supports …

Adoption of ultra-high-definition televisions is gradually increasing as prices are getting lower in well-developed countries and China. As a result, market share of UHD TV-sets could hit around 20 per cent globally already this year, according to optimistic predictions of makers of TV components. The production cost of a 4K …

Apple is rumoured to announce its next set-top-box in the coming months, the first all-new STB in years. The new Apple TV is expected to bring-in additional features, but, according to a media report, it will not support 4K ultra-high-definition video playback, at least initially. Although not a lot of …

In an unexpected move, Apple on Monday reduced the price of its Apple TV set-top-box to £59/$69. It is expected that lower price will help Apple to sell more of its STBs and eventually boost sales of video content via iTunes. For well over a year Apple is rumoured to …

Origin PC, a leading maker of high-performance personal computers for gamers, has announced its new line of its high-end systems. The new Omega home theater PC systems are designed for the living rooms and are projected to wed extreme performance with compact sizes and AV equipment design. Origin Omega personal …

The Blu-ray disc association (BDA) has been working on a new BD specification that supports ultra-high-definition (UHD) 4K resolution for about a year now. Apparently, the organization is on-track with formal announcement of Ultra HD Blu-ray disc standard in the second quarter of 2015, according to a media report. The …

During an interview with GameSpot today at the Consumer Electronics Show Origin PC CEO Kevin Wasielewski revealed his thoughts on the state of Steam Machines and they are not great. He did however have some positive news about Valve’s Steam Controller though, in that it has now been finalized after several iterations and …

Intel Corp. has published images of its forthcoming new-generation NUC (next unit of computing) small form-factor personal computers based in the Core i-series “Broadwell” microprocessors. The upcoming SFF PCs will be slightly smaller than existing NUCs and will support optional technologies that are not available today. Pictures of Intel’s new …

An accelerated processing unit from Advanced Micro Devices could power yet another gaming device, chief financial officer of the company implied this week. The high-ranking executive did not provide any details, but given the revenue opportunities the company outlined with the deal several weeks ago, we are talking about a …

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe said that the PlayStation 4 video game console will “soon” be able to playback Blu-ray 3D movies. The move will automatically make the console one of the most popular BD-3D players, but will it help the standard to become more popular? “Coming soon: PS4 system software …

Origin PC, a U.S.-based boutique PC maker, this week introduced one of the world’s first small form-factor (SFF) personal computers featuring Nvidia Corp.’s dual-chip GeForce GTX Titan Z graphics card. The system comes in the Silverstone RVZ01 case, which is very small and sleek. The company positions the new Chronos …

Xi3 Corp., a company that is mostly known for its small form-factor (SFF) Piston systems and its partnership with Valve Software, and Intel Corp. on Monday said that they would jointly work on next-generation mini personal computers. Xi3 also revealed plans to sell Intel’s NUC SFF systems. It is unclear …

The webOS operating system from Palm and Hewlett-Packard has not managed to become popular on media tablets and smartphones. However, it looks like it will be rather successful on TVs. LG Electronics on Monday said that it has sold over one million of TVs featuring the webOS since the launch …

Valve Software on Wednesday introduced in-home streaming for video games, a new feature of Steam software distribution service. The technology will let users to stream games from a gaming PC to an HTPC [home theater PC], a laptop or even a tablet. Many people have multiple personal computers at home, …

Amazon on Wednesday introduced its first set-top-box, the Amazon Fire TV. The new STB combines powerful hardware with one of the world’s richest collections of digital content and video games. The STB supports an external gamepad controller to make it more appealing to gamers. The novelty will cost $99 in …

For years Intel Corp. has been focused to deliver the best possible chips for various mobile devices, including notebooks and tablets, whereas solutions for desktops computers were put on the back-burner. This happened for many reasons because of the lack of competition on the desktop market as well as because …

Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple, said on Friday that sales of Apple TV set-top-box in 2013 were worth more than a billion. While the number is small for Apple, it means that its TV initiatives are slowly but surely taking off and the STB is clearly no longer …